Activists rally to end prison torture in Egypt

CAIRO - About 1,000 activists rallied in Cairo on Saturday demanding an end to brutality in Egyptian prisons and calling for a ban on torture in the new constitution.

Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was elected in June following 16 months of rule by the army council that took over after Hosni Mubarak's overthrow last year. During the council's rule, some 12,000 civilians were tried by army courts and many of them were tortured in prisons, according to rights groups.

Aida Seif al-Dawla, of the El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, spoke on a stage on Saturday and told the crowds that the group has documented 150 cases of torture in the 100 days since Morsi took office.

"Morsi is following in Mubarak's footsteps," Dawla said.

"Oh martyrs rest in peace, the struggle continues," chanted the demonstrators, who hung up on nearby street walls posters showing the disfigured faces and bodies of torture victims.